Discomfort

I'm coming to believe I need a certain amount of discomfort in my life.

Why?  Because I easily become complacent.  Because I easily can fool myself into accepting the status quo as it stands, that any situation is really more endurable than it be (yes, I understand that many situations are endurable.  My point is that there are those that one has to be in and those one chooses to be in). 

Discomfort is the stone in the boot.  It's the light on the dashboard that won't go away.  It's the thing that constantly reminds me that something is not quite right, that something needs to be attended to.

I find ways around it, of course.  I try to convince myself that things are not all that bad, that I can continue to work with the stone in my boot.  I let things roll off my back, hoping that they will continue to roll but never questioning why  I should have to hope they roll off in the first place. 

But just acknowledging that the discomfort exists is not enough. This discomfort needs to push me to action, not just accommodation.  I need to use the discomfort to propel me to do, not just extend my skills in endurance of small discomforts.

Because in the end, both the discomfort and the endurance of it say less about the actually situation and more about myself:  my energy levels, my goals, my desire to actually act.  Given long enough and without action, at some point one looks back and realizes not only what the discomfort was trying to force in action, but what the cost of compensating turned out to be.

Far better to stop, remove the stone, and change your situation.